Chandigarh: The Punjab Government has put the Food Safety Campaign under Tandrust Punjab Mission on a fast track by roping in another laboratory for the analysis of samples of food articles being collected during the state-wide inspections, informed KS Pannu, Commissioner Food and Drug Administration Punjab.
Giving details, he informed that the Punjab Biotechnology Incubator(PBTI) at SAS Nagar(Mohali) has been notified as Referral Laboratory under Food Safety & Standards Act by FSSAI, GoI. “Availability of another lab will facilitate quicker analysis of samples followed by faster action on the defaulters,” said Pannu. PBTI is a state of art, hi-tec lab equipped with the advanced machines for analysis. It has high-end facilities like Residue and Trace Analysis for pesticides, drugs and heavy metals, Food Additive Analysis, Adulterants Analysis and novel facilities like authenticity testing of honey and authenticity testing of Basmati Rice.
Besides, two scientists of PBTI namely Ravneet Kaur Sidhu and Amit Agarwal have been appointed as Food Analysts under Food Safety & Standards Act 2008 by Government of India whereby their services can also now be utilised by the State Government, informed Pannu.
Hoping for a quicker dispensing of the legal samples, Commissioner Food and Drug Administration said that earlier the entire load of analysis was on the State lab in Kharar but the addition of analytical services of PBTI will definitely help to nail the defaulters at the earliest.
